Stephen Hawking receives ISAAC Lifetime Achievement Award

ISAAC is thrilled to announce that renowned physicist Professor Stephen Hawking has been named as the first ever recipient of the ISAAC Lifetime Achievement Award. The award will be officially presented at the upcoming ISAAC 2014 Conference, July 21-24, 2014, in Lisbon, Portugal.

The ISAAC Lifetime Achievement Award has been created to honour an individual, linked with the field of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), who has made a significant lifetime contribution to the enhancement and growth in human knowledge, and the overall improvement of the human condition.

"ISAAC can think of no other individual, either current or past, who more closely exemplifies the above than Professor Stephen Hawking," says Jeff Riley, ISAAC President 2012-2014.

As an individual who has used AAC for decades due to a progressive motor neuron disease, Professor Hawking has both a personal and professional appreciation for the value of AAC. AAC technology has continued to evolve over the years, making it possible for him to communicate, both in spoken and written form, as his physical condition has changed.

ISAAC will be creating an endowment fund linked to the Lifetime Achievement Award. The endowment is a long-term initiative, which can represent the legacy of achievement attained by Professor Stephen Hawking during his lifetime, in the work that is done by ISAAC across the globe with and for AAC users.